Infinity Looper - anyone got one?

Drew_TNBD

Anyone got a Pigtronix Infinity Looper? Thinking of grabbing one, but really wanna get some user opinions...

Wanna use it more as a writing aid rather than a performance tool.

Would I just be better off sticking with Ableton Live and a midi controller?

EreforGuitarGear

@aswefallintostatic has one for sale

Drew_TNBD

Yeah I saw that after making this thread!

aswefallintostatic

thanks @EreforGuitarGear  

@Drew_fx - lots of pros and cons to the infinity. In general I would heartily recommend a hardware looper over ableton and a midi controller, particularly if you play live. here is why.

1) cheaper to replace if someone spills a beer on it / it gets broken 

2) more reliable - no more situations where your soundcard wont talk to your laptop just as you start your set, you need to reset core audio drivers, the midi controller firmware auto updated and you didnt notice etc...

3) more fun - lots of knobs and buttons to push, encourages hands on interaction. With a software looper you are always working to a compromise as to what you can get your controller to do unless you have an intergated controller and looper software (do they exist?)

4) you cant check you email on a hardware looper. Surprisingly important for me, its a machine with one job, to make music. A piano has one job: to make music, it hink the same approach works for electronic musicians. No i dont want wi fi connectivity, no i dont want facebook updates, no i dont want to be distracted whilst enjoying making some music.

Right, on to the infinity:

Pros:

- super flexible, can do parallel, series, chained, quad mono, reverse, pitch shifted looping. 

- latest os is amazing as you can essentially tweak the functionality of the looper with a software app. All the advantages of a software looper and a hardware philosophy, pretty neat (and easy to do)

- separate loop volumes - amazingly useful if you use loops per formatively and not just for layering backing tracks for your ripping solos.

- built like a tank / silent operation. I play ambient muisc live, both these features are excellent.

- small - half the size of the boomerang, has one loop less but its a whole lot more compact (and less ugly)

- pigtronix is a small company, i have emailed them a few times and they reply super fast and are really nice to deal with.

- has MIDI sync. Imo one of the main reasons to get this looper over the much cheaper ones with similar features (like ditto x2), also having two loopers in one box means they can sync and do all sorts of cool things. My favourite is that if you record a loop then you can set the other loop to be a flexible multiple of the original loop. lots of potential. Loops can also work out of sync, lots more potential for ambient music.

- has a sync out. on the surface not that useful, it is just a summed mono out of the total output. However, having an additional output is super cool because you can send your signal multiple ways. I send the summed mono out in to a mixer then fet that back in to the input of the infinity, creating a big feedback loop that made some amazing generative textures

- updates. Lots of support for this product and customisation options via easy to load os updates. Pigtronix is a small company selling expensive products so they look after their customers.

Cons

- turning off 'click killer' is surprisingly complex if not set to automatically be off

- doesnt loop infinitely, after 300ish long overdubs it starts to clip. Probably not a problem unless you do 30 minute ambient pieces. I unfortunately do do 30 minute ambient pieces so this is one of my main reasons for selling. I contacted the pigtronix guys about it and they had basically never used it to the extreme of getting this clipping, i think they plan to fix it in a future update but its not exactly an in demand feature/problem

- need an external footswitch / exp pedal to use all the features. I got the bright onion footswitch to allow for undo and reverse. Seems to work great. The now OS allows you to choose what functions the external switch uses (i think)

- 'click killer' sometimes doesnt 100% kill the click ( i think its just a crossfade). Again i mentioned this to the pigtronix guys and it is also scheduled for a future update. Not a problem for in time looping.

- possibly tries to do too much? This was the crux of why im selling mine. I only used abotu 25% of the features on the pedal. I got two ditto loopers and am much happier. I stopped using MIDI sync so basically didnt need a lot of the features.

Verdict: great looper, good support and customisable. Not for me.

Drew_TNBD

Yeah for me, I'm looking at it purely as a studio tool and a writing aid. Sometimes I've got a good thing going with a riff, and want to instantly put a lead line over the top of it just to see what works, without interrupting my creative flow. Not looking at it for a live performance tool whatsoever.

aswefallintostatic

The Pigtronix is much more geared towards serious loop stuff. If you wanted parallel loops (say a hook that was one bar and a chord sequence that was 4 bars) then it would be good for that but if you just want record/overdub to work on ideas then you probably you just need something simple like a boss looper then (I like the the ditto myself).

JohnPerry

^i have one of these @Drew_fx. Get one. It doesn't matter that it does a billion things you'd never use. I didn't know it did half the stuff described on here. The chief reason to buy it is the stunning sound quality, better than anything I've had before. 

It's a doddle to operate as a basic looper. I use it exactly as you describe...write a riff, loop it, try something over the top of it. Then store it to one of the nine presets. When you've filled those, dump them somewhere and start again. 

I've had loopers by Boss, Digitech, Line 6 (on the M9), TC and EHX (the 2880) and never really used them. This one i use all the time. It just works so much better somehow. 

Btw i also have the Echolution 2 you mentioned and love it for much the same reason. It has tons of functions i don't use and don't understand (one day when i have some time i'll sit down with it and learn it properly, but you might be wasting your time asking me about them at the mo!) but the quality of the delays is stunning and believe me I've had a few. Still got a few too

smigeon

I second John Perry on the sound thing. I got a Digitec thing and it sucked tone in a subtle way to the extent that I started to hate it. The infinity, as far as my ears can tell, has ZERO affect on the sound (and I'm using high-end guitars and amp). On top of this, the features are great too. But for me the absolute lack of tone suck is the essential prerequisite.

menamestom

I've got one, have not used it as much as I should but it's great and as stated above, you can use it really easily as a simple looper. I love the series loop, play part A, then play part B and swap it onto loop 2 as you go. You can then solo over the loops, changing from part A to part B as you wish. This adds so much more over interactivity over the basic single loop of most loopers. Also, the software updates have added loads of additional functionality since i bought it, so although it's more to learn it's great the company keeps pushing what can be done with the unit. Sounds good as well.

monquixote

I've been looking into the Echolution 2 and I'm thinking that would also be a pretty awesome pedal for you Drew?

Drew_TNBD

monquixote said:

I've been looking into the Echolution 2 and I'm thinking that would also be a pretty awesome pedal for you Drew?

I did look at it. Something put me off, I don't quite recall what it was.

ThePrettyDamned

For looping a riff or idea and using it in a creative way, would something more simple like a ditto or boss be adequate?

I am thinking of getting a basic looper for this reason - sometimes I'll have a riff and melody in my head but by the time I've booted up the pc and plugged into pod farm, it's gone or been molested by my idiot brain doing other shit.